Frosted Flurry Snowflakes

Hi everybody.  I made this Christmas card using a Sara Davies die called Frosted Flurrry from her Glittering Snowflakes collection, which is a circular cut into the card die and also comes with a couple of different snowflakes, bought several years ago and not sure if it is still available.  I also used a very old Snowfall embossing folder.

I started with a snippet of white card just under 5" square and die cut the Frosted Flurry circle in the centre of the card, and then embossed it using the Snowfall EF, and to make more snow I turned the card 90° and embossed it again.  I then die cut the two snowflake dies which came with the snowflake circle, twice each, using a snippet of gold mirri card and added them over some of the snowflakes, and added another snippet of the gold card as a mat first cutting a piece from the centre to leave it white when stuck onto the base card, and finished with the sentiment in the centre stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with WOW Metallic Gold Sparkle Embossing Powder. 

I am entering the above card in the following challenges:

Can You Handle The Pressure Challenge - Anything Goes with Embossing Folders/Winter.

This second card is another from Sara Davies and is called Sparkling Snowflake from her Winter Wonderland collection, another that I am not sure will now be available.  I have used it once a year or two back but thought it was about time to use it again.  I also used a a snowflake from a set of three by Craft Emotions which I used on the two cards shown yesterday.

I found a piece of silver card with a little less shine than the mirri card and it was the perfect size for a 6" square with just a small border, and so I cut the die from it.  I also cut another from white card and used that as the positive within the silver negative shape, but I saved the central silver pieces and filled them back in.  I have a set of three snowflakes from Craft Emotions and decided to cut the largest of the three from some red mirri card and manage to keep the inner pieces within the die and glued that over the central area of the large snowflake just to add a pop of colour.  I also finished the card with a red sentiment. 

Before I go I have a new follower called Jo, whose blog you will find here, and thank you so much for becoming a follower.  Thank you everyone for dropping by my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

Frosted Elegance

Hi everybody.  I hope that you have all had an enjoyable Christmas so far, and I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to all those who have visited and left comments thoughout the last year as I do so appreciate it. 

I have been way behind with everthing, and I have not shown many of the cards I made as although I did take photos I just didn't get around to putting the posts up, so I will show as many as I can in the next few days prior to the new year.  Here are the first couple featuring the Crafter's Companion Frosted Elegance Embossing Folder and I added a snowflake from a set of three dies by Craft Emotions.

A simple card using this large embossed snowflake which I matted onto silver mirri card and added to a 6" square white card.  I then used some silver Pebeo Gilding Wax over the raised areas using a piece of tissue over my finger and carefully rubbing the surface to transfer the wax, just to highlight the pretty image.  I then added the snowflake keeping the centre intact cutting it from a piece of white card on which I had rubbed plenty of the wax, rubbing the excess wax off to give it a bit of a shine.  I then added this to the centre of the snowflake.  I finished it with a matted layer and a die cut sentiment cut from silver mirri 

card. 

 

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

 

ABC Christmas Challenge - 'Y' is for Your Choice and 'Z' is for Zebra.

Peace on Earth Challenge - No. 54 Anything Christmas Goes.

52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge - December Technique Challenge: Clean and Simple.

For this second card I just embossed the central part of the snowflake using gold mirri card and cut it out and added it over the top but twisted slightly,  and then added a white snowflake using the same die as above, only without any of the inset central pieces.  I then finished the card with a die cut gold sentiment using the same die as above.

 

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

 

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - No. 153 Anything Christmas Goes.

Happy Little Stampers December Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes/Festive Animals.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

Reindeer Mice

Hi all.  I have a Christmas make today featuring one of the House Mouse stamps called Reindeer Mice, which I was lucky enough to win recently.  I decided to keep it pretty simple and just coloured the mice with my Lyra pencils and added some gloss on their red noses and some Clear Wink of Stella on the snowy ground and also on the letters.

I have recently been watching a lady called Deb Hallett on YouTube, and on several occasions she has used quite large letters for the sentiment, and especially on a couple she had the quirky dogs and cats standing on the letters, but in this case I decided that maybe it wouldn't work so well with the mice so I added the die cut letters underneath them, and double layered them so they would stand out a bit, and then used lots of WOS Pen over them to glitter them up.  This is the card we are sending to our son in Australia and it was posted just before the end of November,  so hopefully should reach him by Christmas.  I am taking a chance that he doesn't see it, as I'm pretty sure he doesn't look at my blog.

I am entering the following challenges with this card:

NBUS Challenge - No. 57 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.
Simply Clean and Simple December Challenge - Anything CAS Goes/Optional: Red and Green.
Christmas Kickstart Challenge - No. 81 If It's Christmassy Link It Up.

We Love Stamping December Challenge - Winter Flowers and/or Foliage/Anything Go.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Use Craft Dies.
Happy Little Stampers December Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes/Festive Animals.

I also did a second card using these cute mice but this time I framed them using a Sheena Douglass embossing Folder called Frosty Ice which is very old and not readily available now.

I then stamped the mice but this time I used Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink and heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss EP. and again coloured with the Pencils, I also glossed their noses as I did on the first.  I coloured the Frosty Ice frame using some Sage Green and Iced Spruce Distress Inks blending them just around the edge of the frame, and I then decided that it looked a bit dark so I blended some Brilliance Moonlight White Ink over the top to soften it a bit and finished with some Pine Needles DI just around the edges.  I added the sentiment inked with Versafine Satin Red ink, but then as it was a bit too heavy, I decided to add some Moonlight White ink over it before heat setting it with WOW Clear Gloss EP, and cut it into the banner shape.

I am entering the following challenges with this card:

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - No. 153 Anything Christmas Goes.

Merry Little Christmas Challenge - No. 53 Anything Christmas Goes.
Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge - No. 53 Anything Christmas Goes/Inspiration Board.
Can You Handle The Pressure Challenge - Anything Goes/Holly.

Thank you for visiting me here today and I'll see you again soon.

Foliage Wreath and Berries

Hi everyone.  I've made a Christmas card using some papers which came with some stamps I got from Crafty Individuals some time ago, and which had been left lying around waiting for an opportunity to be used, and I looked at this particular design, there are three the same, and thought that the background was suitable for a seasonal make as there is a pattern which isn't but could be holly.  I also used a new set of stamps by Stamp Market called Lovely Christmas, and I used a foliage wreath and a smaller stamp with a sprig of the same leaves.

I started by stamping the wreath in the centre of the card cut to fit on a 6" square card using Versamark and heat embossed with WOW Gold Sparkle Embossing Powder, and then I added the sprigs to the corners in the same way.  I finished the wreath and corners by adding the berries using Nuvo drops in red, and added the stamped sentiment using Versafine Satin Red ink heat embossed with Clear Gloss EP.  Finally I added thre red mat before adhering it to the white card.

Thank you for looking at my blog today and I'll see you again soon. 

I am entering the following challenges:

NBUS Challenge - No. 57 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.
ABC Christmas Challenge - 'W' for Wreath and 'X' for Hugs and Kisses.
Merry Little Christmas Challenge - No. 53 Anything Christmas Goes.
The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - No. 153 Anything Christmas Goes.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

Musical Birthday

Hi everybody.  A music themed birthday card for a lady today, another friend who sings, which is how we met as we were both in the same choir at one time, in fact we sat next to one another.  I have used the embossing folder before here, but the music flourish has not been inked before.   Both are from a set which came with a Creative Stamping magazine two or three months ago.   I decided to try to make a joy fold card which I have attempted once before and as shaped cards go this is easier than some.

I found a freebie paper on line which had music on and in blue and purple, a combination I do love.  I used the music embossing folder for the front panel and ink blended with purple for the floral piece at the bottom, and then blue for the music covered top half, using Wilted Violet and Salty Ocean Distress Inks, and cut and adhered this to the front.  I then added the piece of music paper to the back of the inside, and the piece of flourishy music I added to the front fold over panel using the Salty Ocean DI heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  This is like a smaller back to front card which is attached to the back panel of the card and then folds over the shortened front piece.  The card is a 6" square with the front panel cut to 4", and the fold over piece is approximately 31/2" square.

Thank you for dropping by today and I hope to see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Cardz 4 Galz Challenge - No. 212 Wet or Dry Embossing.

Can You Handle The Pressure Challenge - Anything Goes/Turkey or Thanksgiving.
Happy Little Stampers November Birthday Challenge - Anything Goes.

We Love Stamping November Challenge - Christmas Characte/Anything Goes.
Stamping Sensations November Challenge - Get Ready for Christmas/Anything Goes.
Allsorts Challenge - Week 755 Christmas Time/Anything Goes.

Fungi for a Fun Guy

Hi Everyone.  Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun and this is a masculine card today.  I haven't used my Chocolate Baroque stamps for ages, so decided as we are still in Autumn to get out Autumn Edges which is a set of five stamps which can be used to edge or frame a card, as in the case of the rows of leaves (silhouette and outline), and then a row of fruits and berries, and then there are three trees in a row (in leaf, leaves dropping and bare) and these fungi which both lend themselves to being the main image which is what I have done here.

I love the different shapes and so I did several in red and yellow (with added spots) for Fly and Honey Agaric, and then some more regular types in shades of brown.  I stamped and heat embossed using Versafine Vintage Sepia and WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder, and I coloured them with my Lyra Graduate Pencils which I haven't stopped using lately and I'm really loving them.  I added some bits of white using a gel pen for the white spots and on frills, and also on some of the caps and stalks.  I decided to keep it simple and I masked off the edges and added some Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to the sky background trying not to make it too smooth for a bit of variation, and finished by adding a sentiment again using the Vintage Sepia Ink and Clear Gloss EP.

Before I go I would like to introduce and thank a new follower called Angela whose blog you will find here.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Dutch Card Lovers Challenge - No. 378 Mushrooms.

Stamping Sensations November Challenge - 'Get Ready for Christmas' /Anything Goes.
We Love Stamping November Challenge - Christmas Characters/Anything Goes.
Allsorts Challenge - No. 754 Friendship/Anything Goes.
Happy Little Stampers Birthday November Challenge - Anything Goes.

Ombre Heart Embossed Anniversary

Hi all.  I have an anniversary card today using an embossing folder by Leonie Pujol called Dotty Heart, and a Spellbinders Nestibilities die set called Labels 32 which is extremely old but which I haven't used very much so thought it was time to get it out for a bit of playtime.

I started by putting a snippet of white card through the Dotty Heart EF and then blended Distress Inks over it in tones of purple and blue making sure to blend them well, with a mixture of Wilted Violet and darkened a bit with Dusty Concord, and above some Salty Ocean made a little cooler, as it is a rather bright blue, with Broken China.   I then cut two large and one much smaller Labels 32 pieces using some more snippets of white card, and cut the larger sized aperture out of the inked heart layer.  I then popped two of the white die cuts within the aperture and added the heart layer on top so it has some dimension, and then I finished by adding a sentiment onto the smaller die using Dusty Concord DI heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.   

Thank you for coming to visit my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Color Hues Challenge - No. 75 Purple and Light Blue.
Can You Handle The Pressure Challenge - Anything Goes Embossing with a twist of Vines/Greenery.
Snippets Playground Challenge -  No. 466 Where we use up our snippets of card and paper etc

Seasonal Mandala and Pheasant

Hi everybody.  Another Christmas card on kraft card using a mandala and also a pheasant from a set of freebies by Sheena Douglass which came as an extra set of stamps with a magazine quite a while ago, so I am assuming that these were ones which were left over from sales of the original older magazine, so they decided to put them in with another, so a very good deal indeed as these are lovely with three large mandalas and three bird images and also some sentiments and a little flower die too.  This is a more seasonal looking one with holly and berries, and this and the pheasant haven't been used before.

I decided to stamp and emboss the mandala with WOW Opaque Bright White, and at first did think I would leave it like that but then I thought perhaps it looked a bit plain so I added some colour using my set of Lyra Graduate Pencils.  I then used a piece of the leftover kraft to stamp the pheasant using Versafine Vintage Sepia Ink, and also coloured it with the pencils, fussy cut it out and also used some Pinflair Glue Gel when fixing it on the card, to give it extra dimension.  The males are so beautifully coloured and where I live here in Somerset we see and hear them a lot.  They are completely oblivious to everything around them and appear from nowhere sauntering across the road as though they have all the time in the world, and if you hoot to speed them up they usually stop dead and instead of hurrying towards the nearest hedge they then decide to head back in the opposite direction..lol.   I decided to add the sentiment using Versafine Satin Red Ink and heat embossed it with WOW Clear Gloss EP, and added a coordinating red mat before placing it on a  6" square white card.

Thank you for taking a look at my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge - Week 752 - Embossing Heat or Dry/Anything Goes.
CAS on Friday Challenge - No. 269 Animal.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Emboss It.
Merry Little Christmas Challenge - No. 53 Anything Christmas Goes.
The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - No. 151 Anything Christmas Goes.
Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge - No. 50 Anything Christmas Goes/Inspiration Board.
NBUS Challenge - No. 56 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.
Beccy's Place - Month of Holiday Cards Challenge - 'B' for Bird.

Shine a Light at Christmas

Hi there.  I have at last started my Christmas cards, although I have already made a few throughout the year, but there is still a way to go.  I decided to enter the Color Hues Challenge which this time is Yellow and Kraft and I thought that the lantern stamps, and stars and rays of light stencil (there are three different stencils on it) being used for the first time, and which came with the latest Creative Stamping Magazine No. 127 might work with the colour theme.  I also used an embossing folder which was a freebie a goodly time ago with a poinsettia and holly frame.

I stamped one of the lantern images onto a piece of white card and also separately stamped the smallest candle, using Versafine Vintage Sepia Ink and then coloured them using Distress Inks - Brushed Corduroy and Mustard Seed, and also a little Scattered Straw to give the candle a little colour.   I then fussy cut them out and stuck the candle inside the lantern.  I also cut off the hanging ring from the top and finished by adding some Glossy Accents to the glass parts.  I added a circle of blended Mustard Seed ink behind where I was going to add the lantern and then also the rays of light part of the stencil, which I added using Ground Espresso DI.  I then added the Poinsettia and Holly embossed frame and decided to colour it with a deep gold/brown Sakura Starlight pen which I thought had a similar tone to the lantern and hopefully fits the colour challenge, and I also used it to add some stars using the stencil, and over the rays of light behind the lantern and a few little dots as well..maybe I overdid it a bit but it looks nice and sparkly.  I then added the lamp using some Pinflair Glue gel down the centre to give it a bit more shape, and also some ordinary glue around the edges.  I finished with a sentiment from the set stamped using the Vintage Sepia Ink and heat embossed with WOW Clear Glose Embossing Powder.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I hope to see you again soon.

I am also entering the following challenges:

Rudolph Days October Challenge - Anything Christmas Goes.
The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - No. 150 - Anything Christmas Goes.
Happy Little Stampers October Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes/Stencil.
NBUS Challenge - No. 55 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.

Musical Birthday

Hi everyone.  I have a masculine card to show today for a friend who loves his music and sings in a choir with my hubby using a set of stamps and an embossing folder with a musical theme from Stamps By Me which came with a recent edition of Creative Stamping, and naturally I just couldn't resist...lol.  I used part of the embossing folder and two of the stamps on this card.  The bird was in a sale over at Dies to Die For and I do love bird stamps.

I started with the embossing folder using a snippet of white card.  I only used the top part of it as the bottom has flowers which I didn't feel were quite right.  I always lightly spray the card with some water on both sides as I think it does help to enhance the embossing, and I backed it with a snippet of black card.  I then stamped the bird on another snippet of white card using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink and heat embossed it with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.   It is actually a Chickadee, but as it has a similar shape with the dark head I made it into a Great Tit, and coloured it with my new Lyra Pencils.  I wanted to add it over the embossed background so I fussy cut it out, which took quite a time snipping round the pine branches, and it did end up with a few less needles than it started with...lol, and I added some Glossy Accents to the bird's eye.  I decided to add a strip of music from the set of stamps using more snippets of white card, but it had a lot of flourishes so I cut them off and then used a sentiment from the set to sit on top of the music backed with a piece of foam to raise it up a bit.  This was also stamped with the Nocturne Ink and heat embossed with the Clear Gloss EP.  

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Snippets Playground Challenge - No. 465 Where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.

Cardz 4 Guyz Challenge - No. 333 Spookyscary or Birds.
Can You Handle The Pressure Challenge - Anything Goes/Spooky.
The Crafty Addicts Challenge - Anything Goes.

Happy Little Stampers October Birthday Challenge - Anything Goes.

Triple B Challenge - October - Birds, Butterflies & Blooms (any 1, 2 or all 3).

Sending You Sunshine

Hi everybody.  I have made a card for the Less is More Challenge which this time is a one layer card with the theme of Sunshine.   I used two stamps from the Creative Stamping Magazine called Summer Vibes..i.e a textured strip which works as a background and a seagull, and then a stencil called Rays of Light which came along with stamps for this most recent issue with a Christmas theme.

I started by using the strip texture stamp a couple of time in Adirondack Stonewashed and Sunshine Yellow trying to be fairly random over the sea area with it so it wasn't too solid, and then added the stamped rays of light filling in the area of it above the see for the setting sun.  I also blended some yellow over the sand to fill it in more fully, and then more softly around the sun and over the sea area, and also added a bit of Distress Ink in Brushed Corduroy over the sand and around the added seagull which I stamped using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink.  I also added some pencil colouring in various places including on the bird and under it's feet, and also some black micron pen over the sand to look like small pebbles and also added three little birds in the sky.  I finished with the sentiment also inked using the Nocturne Ink and heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  

Thank you for coming to visit me here today and I'll see you again soon.

I am also entering the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge Week 750 - Anything Goes/Add Some Texture.

We Love Stamping October Challenge - Anything Goes/Mood Board.

Stamping Sensations October Challenge - Anything Goes/Autumn Colours.

Krafty Chicks Challenge - No. 686 CAS.

Owl Carrying Heart Anniversary

Hi all.  I recently bought this fun Stamping Bella image of a cute owl with a heart in his beak and a heart shaped present in his talons which I thought would work well for anniversaries, and so I used it on this card.  I also bought an Impression Obsession square Heart Frame die (249-Y) and both are being used for the first time here.

I made a simple card by dry embossing the heart die using a piece of white card and cut it out before adding it to my 6" square card.  I then stamped the owl using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink, and coloured it with my Lyra Graduate Pencils and fussy cut it and added  it over the top using Pinflair Glue Gel for a bit of dimension.  I finished by stamping the sentiment using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink and heat embossed it with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  

Thank you for dropping by my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

We Love Stamping October Challenge - Mood Board/Anything Goes (I do have a bit of orange and a bird, albeit not a robin).
Stamping Sensations October Challenge - Autumn Colours/Anything Goes ( Not exactly an autumn subject but have used brown orange and red).
Simply Clean & Simple Challenge - October - Anything Goes/Autumn.
Triple B Challenge - October - Birds, Butterflies and Blooms (any one, two or all three).
Allsorts Challenge - Week 750 - Add Some Texture.

Poppy Corner

Hi everybody.  I had been thinking about getting myself some new coloured pencils and whilst hubby and I were out with friends several weeks ago I came across a stationery shop which had some artist materials and they had some Lyra Graduate Coloured Pencils, a cheaper range that they do, which was a tin of 36 and looked like a nice variety of colours.  The friend who was in the shop with me was encouraging me to buy them, so I decided I would.  I said I would show her the results, so I decided to make a card and send her my first try with them, but when I realised it was her birthday shortly I decided to keep it and send it then, which is right now..lol.

I used a digi image which was a freebie colouring page I think, and I used three shades of red and two shades of green as well as grey and black for the flowers centres, and a light brown for the seed head.  I did watch someone on line using these pencils and he said it was best to build up the colour slowly moving from light to medium tone and then dark which is what I did on the flowers, but for the leaves I just used two greens.  I am very happy with the pencils which were reasonably priced and in my opinion good for the money with some lovely colours across the 36 pencils.  I cut it with a Crealies pierced die and layered onto another pierced layer and added the sentiment using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink but this time I didn't heat emboss as I had already put the card together and didn't want to warp the layers with the heat from the heat gun.  

Thank you for joining me here today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

NBUS Challenge - No. 55 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.

Happy Little Stampers October Birthday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Triple B Challenge - October - Use 1, 2 or 3 of Birds, Butterflies or Blooms.

Alphabet Challenge - 'N' is for Nature.

Simply Clean & Simple Challenge - October - Anything CAS Goes/Autumn

Colouring with Pencils Challenge - October - Anything Goes.

The Flower Challenge - No. 85 Anything Goes and a celebration of their 7th Birthday.

Dragonfly Aperture

Hi everyone.  I made this card using these Crafter's Companion Dies which came with Die Cutting Essentials Issue 104 and this is it's first outing.  It consists of the ornate dragonfly portion and a second die which has three cut out sections and you can mix and match, and there is also a sentiment die.  I also used a piece of patterned floral paper which was a freebie set which came with another magazine fairly recently, but am not sure which one.  I'm afraid papers get a bit neglected by me as I am not in the habit of using them, and they would have been an extra on top of any stamps or stencils etc. which were the main items of the gift.  This one I thought would go well and I did need to make a relatively quick card for an upcoming birthday.

I started with a 6" square card and cut the aperture layer to allow for the paper to extend beyond it.  I cut the dragonfly part twice so I could cut them out and layer them for a bit of added interest and dimension.  I decided to add colour to the three flower sprays which were visible through the aperture using a new set of colouring pencils by Lyra, their Graduate set of 36 and which I have found to be really pretty colours and very good to use, and also reasonably priced.  I finished the card with a sentiment stamped using Versafine Majestic Blue and heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.

Thank you for visiting me here today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:-

NBUS Challenge - No. 55 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.
Happy Little Stampers October Birthday Challenge - Anything Goes.

Happy Little Stampers October Anything Goes with Dies Challenge.

AAA Birthday Challenge - No. 54 Favourite Colours (blue is one of my favourites).
The Flower Challenge - No. 85 Anything Goes with Flowers (celebrating their 7th Birthday).

Stencilled Birches

Hi there.  I needed a quick masculine card for a family member and remembered seeing a card which Hannelie - Desert Diva had created using trees with a masked curvy edge, and so decided to make my own version of it.  She did the stencilling straight onto the card but I matted mine onto a 7" x 5" card, and I used slightly different colours of Distress Ink - Salty Ocean, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Peeled Paint.  I used a Dutch Doobadoo Birch Trees stencil and made a mask using a piece of copy paper.

It didn't take long to do, but there was a bit of movement of the stencil which I don't quite understand as I did tape everything down well, but anyway it was not that noticeable and I did not have time to start again as it needed posting.  I added this stencilled layer to my base card and stamped a sentiment onto a strip of white card using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.

Thank you Hannelie for the inspiration, and thank you all who visit my blog, I really do appreciate it.

I am entering the following challenges;

Stencil Fun Challenge - October - Anything Goes/Orange.
AAA Cards Challenge - No. 250 Colourful Ink Blending.
Allsorts Challenge - Week 748 Autumn Trees, Leaves and Berries/Anything Goes.

Autumn is Here

Hi all.  I think that now we are nearly into October we have to except that summer is over and the trees will soon be changing colour, and the mushrooms and toadstools will be popping up, and so this card which I found in my 'drafts' which I hadn't got around to showing is quite appropriate. We have had our son staying with us over from Australia so cardmaking has been suspended for a while as we have obviously been doing other things.  He has less than a week left now before he goes home and we will miss him a lot, but we have been lucky as this is his second visit this year which has been great!  

This features a freebie digital paper which I downloaded from one of the magazines, and I added some toadstools from a Chocolate Baroque set call Autumn Poppy.  I scaled it to fit on my white 6" square card and added the toadstools embossed with Wow Metallic Brass Embossing Powder and coloured them using my Inktense Pencils without any water.  I finished by adding a sentiment with Versafine Vintage Sepia and heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss EP.  I like the mix of colours in the paper, but not sure there would be a bird's nest with eggs in at this time of year..lol, but apart from that I think it works well.

Thank you for taking a look at my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge - Week 747 Four Legged Friends/Anything Goes.
Stamping Sensations September Challenge -  Garden Delights/Anything Goes.
We Love Stamping September Challenge - Trees and Leaves/Anything Goes.

Heart and Flowers Anniversary

Hi all.  Here is a recent anniversary make featuring a gelli print and a Sizzix Tim Holtz Mixed Media No. 5 set of three cut into the card dies which I have had for quite a few years.  I also used a Nellie Snellen Multi Frame Heart die set which I have had forever..lol, and also an old Cuttlebug Embossing Folder called Kimmy-Luvs.

I found the gelli plate print in my stash and I think this was one I made when I was using some foliage I picked on a walk several weeks ago, and I used a couple of pieces of fern, and as far as I remember the colours were Lucky Clover and Twisted Citron Distress Inks, and maybe a bit of Pine Needles DI, but didn't make a note of it so a bit of a guess.   The fern print was not very strong and I  decided to add some more inks and a spray or two of water, before I pulled the print for a second time, so it was well covered with the ink, and ended up really as a watercolour background.

Using a piece of white card I cut the floral die twice and then stuck it to the gelli plate background so it showed off the most pleasingly coloured areas in the gelli print through the flower cut out shapes.   I then cut the heart from another piece of white card, using the smaller picot edge heart die, and then ran it through the Kimmy-Luvs EF and layered it onto the centre of the background layer using some Pinflair Glue Gel to give it some shape.  Finally I added the sentiment using Versafine Deep Lagoon Ink and heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder, and then added this onto a 6" square card.  It does look rather dark and much darker than the colour looks on the outside of the cube, but I thought that it went OK with the background. 

Thank you for joining me here today and I'll be back soon.   x 

I am entering the following challenges:

Happy Little Stampers September Anything Goes with Dies Challenge.
Happy Little Stampers September Watercolour Challenge - Anything Goes.
The Flower Challenge - No. 84 Use a Die.
Triple B September Challenge - Anything Goes with Birds, Blooms and Butterflies ( any one or all three).
Beautifiul Blossoms Challenge - Anything Goes Flowers/Optional Mood Board No. 9.

Lacy Border With Stripes

Hi everybody.  I have a lot of coloured card which actually I don't use very often and so I was looking of ways of using it on cards and I visit Hannelie who has a blog called Desert Diva, and I saw she had made a very pretty card with different width strips and a pretty border design on the outer white layer which you can see here, so I got my thinking cap on and looked through the border dies I have and this one seemed the best.  It is one I have had for a long time but haven't used much and is by Sue Wilson at Creative Expressions, and it is called Pictor with six dies for different styles of fancy edges.

I decided to use just three colours and found some snippets of yellow, blue and green which went together well for a nice bright look.  I started with the fancy border using a piece of card to fit onto a 7" x 5" white card but left it a little wider and longer to give a bit of leeway in the final cutting.  I then got a piece of thin card to build up the pattern of strips and covered that with enough length and width for the top half of the card.  The border die is more suitable for a square card, and with hindsight it would have been better to let it go edge to edge instead of having a margin and I fiddled for quite a while to fit it on and eventually I ended up cutting a piece of the outside edges of the border off, and I decided to fit the layers together and cut it as one piece but it was not easy to cut, but anyway the look is bright and I have managed to use up a few snippets too.  I decided to add a white die cut butterfly and then finished it with a sentiment stamped using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder. 

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Snippets Playgrounds Challenge - No. 462 Where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
AAA Birthday Challenge - No. 53 Animals ( I wasn't sure whether a butterfly could be called an animal and apparently it can as it belongs to the group called Arthropods).
Happy Little Stampers September Anything Goes with Dies Challenge .
Happy Little Stampers September Birthday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Triple B September Challenge - Anything Goes with Birds, Blooms and Butterflies (any one, two or all three).
Allsorts Challenge - Week 745 Anything Goes/Use Die Cuts.
Simply Clean and Simple September Challenge - Anything Goes/Use A Stencil.

Leaf Wreath Anniversary

Hi there everyone.  I have an anniversary card to show today using a Claritycrafts stencil called Leaf Wreath and I also used a set of heart dies by Sweet Dixie which I bought at The Range a long time ago.  

I decided to use the stencil with my gelli plate, and started by covering it with some Brushos in Sea Green and Violet and sprayed them with some water.  I then laid the stencil on the gelli plate which dispersed the colour around it and lifted it quickly taking a print using a piece of Clarity Stencil card.  It did to a certain degree leave the print on it and I left it to dry, not sure whether I would use it or not.   I looked at it again later and thought that if I added some extra ink through the stencil to highlight the leaves more and then filled in the white gaps with some Distress Inks it would work, so I used Dusty Concord through the stencil and some Broken China and Dusty Concord around the edges and in the gaps in and around the wreath.  I then went round the edges of the leaves with a Sakura Starlight Silver Pen and when rummaging through my bits and pieces I came across a heart frame which I had left over from making another anniversary card and decided to give it an embossed silver finish using WOW Metallic Silver EP and then I used the smaller inner die as a template, marking around it with a pencil onto a piece of scrap card, and with a little extra so the heart frame would sit over it.  I added a sentiment on this again heat embossing it with the Silver EP and then softly blended some Broken China DI around the edges to take the whiteness off, and added the wreath background and the heart onto the white 6" square card.

Thank you for visiting me here today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
My Time to Craft Challenge -No. 515 Use Die Cuts.

Feed the Birds

Hi everybody.  I have a masculine card today featuring some RSPB stamps which came with a magazine a few months ago and which had not been used..tut tut!  It features garden birds and some accompanying images and also an EF with a branch on it and four dies including two which cut out two of the different birds.  I was a little disappointed as there was another sheet of stamps with a lovely background scene and waders and ducks which I thought came with it but it came with another version of it...drat!  I also used another one of my crushed flower/foliage backgrounds, a snippet cut from one of the original A4 pieces, and this has a much better leaf pattern to the righthand side.  The first card is here.

I started by adding some foliage on the background using a couple of silhouette stamps from another freebie set which is a couple of years old but these two particular stamps hadn't been inked before, and I stamped these using Distress Inks - Peeled Paint for those at the top and Forest Moss for the fern type leaves at the bottom.  I then added the blue using Tumbled Glass DI and a blending brush, and then used the two greens to add more depth at the edges where there is green.  I then stamped the bird table and flying sparrow from some snippets of white card using Versafine Vintage Sepia Ink and coloured them with a waterbrush using Brushed Corduroy on the bird table, and then also added Scattered Straw and a tiny bit of Aged Mahogany and Hickory Smoke -  all Distress Inks, on the flying bird.  I accentuated the bird's eye and the lines of the wing feathers using a very fine Black Micron Pen.

I finished by cutting them out and adhered them to the background scene and then added the sentiment to the white card using a stamp from this same set, stamped using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder before adding the finished scene to the card.

Before I go I have a new follower called Donna whose blog you will find here, thank you for becoming a follower Donna, and I'm sure she would love you to pay her a visit. 

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

NBUS Challenge - No. 53 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.
Try it on Tuesday Challenge - Let's Go Outside.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Clean and Simple.
Happy Little Stampers August Watercolour Challenge - Anything Goes.
Happy Little Stampers August Birthday Challenge - Anything Goes.
AAA Birthday Challenge - No. 52 Anything Birthday Goes.
Snippets Playground Challenge - No. 461 Where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.